My opinion may not matter much, but I realize that a lot of people on here grew up with the original trilogy. I grew up with the prequel trilogy. TPM came out when I was in 6th grade. I went to see it. I LOVED it.
I was already a huge Star Wars fan. I still have my original pre-1997 VHS trilogy which I watched over and over as a kid. In fact, ANH is barely playable because I saw it so many times. As a kid growing up with the prequel trilogies, the OT started making less sense. Who the heck was that guy playing the Emperor in ESB?! Why does technology look so much more advanced earlier in the timeline?! Etc.
Then the DVDs came out. (I was unaware of the SE VHSs until afterward). I LOVED most of the changes. The new CGI elements were cool and helped link the two trilogies together.
Then Attack of the Clones came out. O.. M.. G.. Terrible movie. So bad, I did not even see ROTS til it came out on DVD. I just hated it. And then it hit me. The prequels started sucking because they LOOKED so different. Lucas really should have made the sets look more like 70's sci-fi rather than 21st century sci-fi. SW takes place in another galaxy, not on Earth. Who cares if it doesn't match up with our timeline? Yet he didn't.
In the end, that's what killed the PT. The Phantom Menace still remains my favorite of the prequels because of the nostalgia. Most of you probably love the OT because of the nostalgia. Kids growing up now may love all 6 movies with all of their alterations because it will be nostalgic for them.
In truth, that nostalgic value alone should never have been tampered with. Instead of trying to make the OT match the PT, Lucas should have put some thought into the movies and made the PT look more outdated. Maybe not the special effects, but certainly the sets. It would have "made sense" for everybody. Instead, we get 6 movies that he will never be happy with because no one thought of the awkward clash between 70's and 21st century sets.
I'm glad Peter Jackson thinks differently. He recently signed up to direct the 2 Hobbit movies after all. I'm sure that he will make them reminiscent of LOTR rather than create new creatures and themes and then try to sneak them into LOTR.